The new dividend tax - does this mean contractors who paid themselvs big divvies

theEnd

TheBlueHorse wrote: »

the family holiday IS the business trip.


the mobile phone is essentially personal


the petrol is his wife driving kids around


and so on....

But employed people with company car, company mobile and even business trips can do exactly the same.

lisyloo

the mobile phone is essentially personal
the petrol is his wife driving kids around

This sounds like tax evasion to me.
Wrong but it's different from avoidance.

Note that in some cases avoidance is positively encouraged e.g. putting into pensions is incentivised.

But employed people with company car, company mobile and even business trips can do exactly the same.

The difference is the primary use.
If you get a car primarilyy for business use and occassional personal use, then that's entirely different to a car that's used for by the wife for a runaround and put through the business. I'd call that tax evasion.

We only put expenses through our business that are exclusively or primarily for business use. I'm not an expert on the accounting rules, but I believe that's the crux of it.

theEnd

lisyloo wrote: »

The difference is the primary use.
If you get a car primarilyy for business use and occassional personal use, then that's entirely different to a car that's used for by the wife for a runaround and put through the business. I'd call that tax evasion.

We only put expenses through our business that are exclusively or primarily for business use. I'm not an expert on the accounting rules, but I believe that's the crux of it.

But how do you know others do the same?

I know plenty of employees with company phones, laptops and cars etc that are rarely used for business. Just seen as perks.

TheBlueHorse

theEnd wrote: »

But employed people with company car, company mobile and even business trips can do exactly the same.

no they can't

theEnd

TheBlueHorse wrote: »

no they can't

I know lots that do.

lisyloo

I know plenty of employees with company phones, laptops and cars etc that are rarely used for business. Just seen as perks.

Benefits are taxable, so this doesn't sound legal.
Ignorance is no defence.

There's a big difference between making the odd personal call on a business phone and tax evasion.

wotsthat

I've got a company car. It's used for business but if I'm in the office one day and decide to cycle there's nothing to stop my wife using it.

It's taxed as a benefit. I pay tax on the value of the car multiplied by emissions. As my employer provides fuel for personal as well as business there's a benefit in kind tax for that as well.

Regarding the fuel what we do is have the option to add up the total value of fuel used for personal use and repay the company if that ends up being less than the benefit in kind tax. I'm always up so it doesn't matter but some, who live very local, have given up the 'free' fuel because it's cheaper to buy their own.

purch

TheBlueHorse wrote: »

the family holiday IS the business trip.

Are you saying that I can't hold my AGM in Acapulco :eek:

theEnd

purch wrote: »

Are you saying that I can't hold my AGM in Acapulco :eek:

... which is ridiculous, but again, I know lots of occasions where employees have organised a nice off-site/meeting/jolly.

There seems to be a presumption that employees are 100% honest when declaring their benefits in kind, but contractors are not.

lisyloo

I know lots of occasions where employees have organised a nice off-site/meeting/jolly.

If they are genuinely having a meeting then why would they not go somewhere nice where they can enjoy the evenings? That's ok.
If it's primarily leisure then it might not be legal.

There seems to be a presumption that employees are 100% honest when declaring their benefits in kind, but contractors are not.

Not from me there isn't
But I have to say I'm quite concerned about the company you're keeping.
You seem to know quite a few tax evaders.
I don't know how well you know these people, but I'd find it morally troubling.